1968 – {Greetings!...
We’re The Monitors} Bring Back The Love / Share A Little Love With Me** / Step
By Step (Hand In Hand) / The Further You Look, The Less You See** / Since I
Lost You Girl / Baby Make Your Own Sweet Music / Greetings (This Is Uncle Sam)
/ Time Is Passin’ By** / Say You / Number One In Your Heart / Serve Yourself A
Cup Of Happiness** / You Share The Blame * (Soul LP S714/SS714)

*recorded in 1965

**recorded in 1966

Motown / V.I.P.
unreleased:

1963 - Anything

1963 – Cry (version1)

1963 - Guilty

1963 - Hello Love (version
1)

1964 – Cry (version 2)

1964 - Hello Love (version
2)

1965 - I Can't Get Along
Without You

1965 - I'm In Love With
You Baby

1965 - Just Too Much To
Hope For

1965 - Show Me You Can
Dance

1965 - Words

1966 - Crying In The Night
(version 1)

1966 - Doctor Of Love

1966 - Don't Put Off Till
Tomorrow What You Can Do Today

1966 - It Only Happens When
Love Is Gone

1966 - You're So Fine And
Sweet

1967 - Crying In The Night
(version 2)

1967 - My Love Grows
Stronger

1967 - Poor Side Of Town

1967 - Too Busy Thinking
About My Baby

1968 - Just To Keep You
Satisfied

1968 - The Letter

Biography:

Singer and pianist Richard
Street attended high school with future Monitors-mate Warren Harris, Otis
Williams, and cousin Melvin Franklin. Warren was part of a group called The Distants, along with Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin, but he departed as The
Distants merged with The Primes, to form The Temptations. Warren and Richard
were part of a group called The Fagins, before a name change, calling
themselves The Majestics. Thomas Mealey (listed as Meatley in B.M.I.), Pedro
Maneka, Maurice Fagin, and Warren Harris were The Majestics who recorded for
Chex Records in 1962. In 1963 Street and Harris formed a new Majestics group
together with married couple Sandra and John Fagin, and the group signed with Motown.

“Hello Love” was written
by Street, Harris and Thelma Gordy, and was scheduled for release on V.I.P. in
1964, backed with “The Further You Look, The Less You See” written by two
Motown legends, Smokey Robinson and Norman Whitfield. Unfortunately V.I.P.
25010 was cancelled.

In 1965 The Monitors
finally received the greenlight for a released single (“Say You” b/w “All For Someone”). After the initial pressing, Motown learned that a white group named
The Majestics had been recording on the Linda label. And so The Monitors were
born. “Say You” was eventually released on V.I.P. 25028. The song peaked at #36
on the Billboard R&B charts.

The Mickey Stevenson, Hank
Cosby, and Ronnie Dunbar production, “Greetings (This Is Uncle Sam)” (backed with "Number One In Your Heart") was the
closest The Monitors got to hit status, at #100 Pop and #21 R&B in 1966.
This song was originally recorded by The Valadiers and reflected the concerns
of the younger generation regarding the Vietnam War at the time.

The Monitors released a
couple of further releases for the V.I.P. imprint, including “Since I Lost You
Girl” b/w “Don't Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do Today” (in 1966) and “Bring
Back The Love” b/w “The Further You Look The Less You” (in 1968).

After an internal move to
Motown's Soul Records label, the group released “Step by Step (Hand in Hand)”
b/w “Time Is Passin’ By” in 1969. The single proved to be their last release
for the label, however, a parent album was released, entitled “Greetings! We're
The Monitors”, in 1968. It was originally scheduled for release on V.I.P. but surfaced
on the Soul label. The album was kind of a disappointment as it didn't include
all the B-sides from their five singles, and the material wasn't up to Motown's
usual standards.

When Paul Williams was
forced to depart The Temptations due to the failing health, however, Richard
Street stepped in for him in 1971 and The Monitors’ fate was sealed. As a
result of his new affiliation, The Monitors quietly faded into history; as The
New Monitors the remaining group members did manage a single release on Buddah
in 1972.